1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a frame plating process, and more particularly to a frame plating process that enables a fairly good film thickness distribution to be obtained at a specific site needing film thickness precision in a simple way yet without depending on the film thickness distribution of a plated film based on plating conditions.
2. Explanation of the Prior Art
One technique of forming a micropatterned thin film (micropattern), for instance, includes a frame plating process. According to that process, for instance, an electrode film is formed on a substrate, and a resist is formed by coating on the electrode film. Then, that resist layer is patterned by photolithography so that a frame for forming a plated film is formed by the remnants of the patterned resist (mask pattern). Thereafter, that frame is used for electroplating using the previously formed electrode layer as a seed so that a patterned thin film comprising an electroconductive material is formed.
Micropattern thin films formed by the frame plating process are used for, for instance, microparts, microlayer components, interconnecting patterns or the like that constitute, for instance, a microdevice. Exemplary micro-devices are thin-film inductors, thin-film magnetic heads, semiconductor devices, sensors using thin films, and actuators using thin films.
When a given shape of frame plated film is formed for the purpose of fabricating such microdevices, there is often a demand for only a specific area of the formed frame plated film to have an increased film thickness precision (that means that there must be a decreased fluctuation of the thickness distribution of the plated film). One possible approach to increasing the plated film thickness precision at such a specific site is to polish or otherwise smoothen that site alone; however, the operation of partial polishing or the like taking aim at a microarea alone involves much difficulty, and is impractically poor in efficiency as well.
The present invention has been made with such situations in mind, and has for the object the provision of a frame plating process that enables a good film thickness distribution to be obtained at a specific site needing film thickness precision in a simple way yet without depending on the thickness distribution of a plated film based on plating conditions.